There are days when the pavement seems to be crying out for us to stop for a moment and look around. In an era when routine often drags us between nostalgia for the past and fear of an apocalyptic tomorrow, Barcelona proposes taking a collective pause to look at the present. From October 13 to 18, the city will host a new edition of the Biennal de Pensament, an event that, under the slogan “Unleashing the Present,” invites residents to use the city as the ideal setting for imagining other ways of living.
To achieve this, this initiative—promoted by City Hall through the Barcelona Institute of Culture (ICUB) and organizations such as the CCCB—will transform public spaces into venues for pluralistic dialogue and exchange. The central goal is for thinkers and citizens to work together to find answers to urgent questions: how to foster solidarity in the face of neoliberal exclusion; how cities can serve as democratic refuges against authoritarianism; and, ultimately, what we can do to improve the material and symbolic conditions of all who live in the city.
Voices to Stir Consciences
This year’s program seeks to move away from absolute truths to offer compelling debates from different perspectives. Among the guests invited to speak are notable figures from the world of literature, such as writer Mariana Enríquez, Mallorcan author Antònia Vicens, and poet Chantal Maillard.
Film and the performing arts will be represented by director José Luis Guerin and creator Angelica Liddell, who will share their reflections alongside figures more closely linked to activism and politics. This includes Liliam Thuram, a former soccer player and activist; Mexican journalist Eileen Truax, a specialist in migration; thinker Fina Birulés i Bertran; and German artist and communicator Jean-Philippe Kindler, a satirist whom conservative circles in his country do not hesitate to label an “agitator.”
To bring all this well-founded and critical thinking to life, the Biennal has a curatorial team made up of organizations and professionals who work year-round to bring these debates to the streets.
This core group includes philosopher Marina Garcés and journalist Albert Lladó, facilitators at the Escola de Pensament; Mireia Calafell and Berta Subirats, who lead the cultural production company La Sullivan; Elisabet Goula, head of the CCCB’s Center for Documentation and Debates; and Rafael Vilasanjuan, director of Translation and Impact at ISGlobal.
A civic tradition taking root
Launched in 2018,the Biennal de Pensament remains true to its core mission: to turn major cities into a starting point for addressing the challenges facing today’s societies. Since then, the project has sought to protect human rights and democracy through collective, unfiltered dialogue.
Anyone who wants to join this great urban conversation and not miss any of the debates can now mark the dates on their calendar and check out the full program on the event’s official website.
Full program with schedules and locations
Tuesday, October 13
- Talk : Literature, Music, and Mystery with Alessandro Baricco and Joan Magrané in Joan Coromines Square.
- Talk: “Strangers in the City” with Angélica Liddell and Luna Miguel in Joan Coromines Square.
- Return to the square with Maria Jaume at Joan Coromines Square.
Wednesday, October 14
- Presentation of the finalist projects for the Public Space Awardat the CCCB Auditorium (Calle de Montalegre, 5).
- Ukraine, War, and Memory: a session for students with Sofia Andrukhóvitx and Miquel Missé at the CCCB Theater (Calle de Montalegre, 5).
- Talk: “Decentering the West ” with Omar el Akkad and Fatima Bhutto at Joan Coromines Square.
- Age and Stereotypes: Generational Values and Discrimination, with Sol Picó, Montse Barderi, and Alba Lafarga at Casa Orlandai (23 Jaume Piquet Street).
- Barcelona = (Diversity + Intensity) × Complexity, featuring Pau de Solà-Morales, Andreu Domingo, Eulàlia Gómez, Francesc Muñoz, and Miquel Pybus at Editorial Gustavo Gili (Calle del Rosselló, 87–91).
- Talk: “Women Who Write About Darkness ” with Elaine Vilar Madruga, Anna Starobínets, and Maria Isern at Joan Coromines Square.
- Creation and Hate Speech: Art as a Battlefield, with Paula Artés, Las Huecas, and Març Llinàs at Casa Orlandai (23 Jaume Piquet Street).
- Current Challenges in Architectural Outreach, with Anna Ramos at Editorial Gustavo Gili (Calle del Rosselló, 87–91).
- Talk : “Living to Work?” with Juan Evaristo Valls Boix, Anna Pacheco, and Alba Riera in Joan Coromines Square.
Thursday, October 15
- Truth and Manipulation in the Digital Age: A Reflection Inspired by George Orwell’s *1984*, featuring Berta Giraut, Jordi Borràs, and the Casa dels Clàssics in Plaça Major in Nou Barris.
- Talk: “Building from the City” with Rafael Moneo and Carmen Díaz at the Pati de les Dones.
- Utopias with Chantal Maillard, Marina Garcés, and Albert Lladó in the Plaza Major in Nou Barris.
- Governing Borders: Local Responses to Authoritarianism, with Ainhoa Nadia Douhaibi Arrazola, Eileen Truax, and Vivi Alfonsín at the Hivernacle in Parc de la Ciutadella (Passeig de Picasso, 7).
- Challenging the Far-Right Narrative, with Youssef Ouled, Miquel Ramos, Montse Santolino, and Laura Aznar at La Modelo (Calle de Entença, 155).
- Award ceremony for the European Prize for Urban Public Space at the Pati de les Dones.
- Conspiracies with Inés Garcia and Bernat Castany at Plaça Major in Nou Barris.
- Whiteness, Thought, and the Right to the City, with Lilian Thuram, Maria Ignacia Ibarra E., and Victoria Muñoz at the Hivernacle in Parc de la Ciutadella (Passeig de Picasso, 7).
- Berger – Sontag. “Between the Subject and the System,” with Chantal Aimée and Héctor Mellina at La Modelo (Calle de Entença, 155).
Friday, October 16
- Truth and Manipulation in the Digital Age: A Reflection Inspired by George Orwell’s *1984*, featuring Berta Giraut, Jordi Borràs, and the Casa dels Clàssics in Plaça Major in Nou Barris.
- An Urban Interregnum: New Economies and Intimate Stories of Work, featuring Edgar Pieterse, Rupali Gupte, Prasad Shetty, Thireshen Govender, and Ashley Walters, at the CCCB Auditorium.
- “Thinking About the Future from Africa,” a session for students with Felwine Sarr and Miquel Missé at the Pati de les Dones.
- “Absences” with Teresa Caldeira, Lindokuhle Sobekwa, Allan Cunha, and Tatiana Thieme at the CCCB Auditorium (Calle de Montalegre, 5).
- An Urban Interregnum: Inhabiting the Body, Inhabiting the City, with Gautam Bhan, Priya Sen, Vikramaditya Sahai, and Kelly Gillespie, at the CCCB Auditorium (Calle de Montalegre, 5).
- “Limits” with José Luis Guerín at Plaça Major in Nou Barris.
- Video games, data, and cultural discourse in the age of platforms, with Ivelise Fortim, Luca Carrubba, and Proyecto Una at the Hivernacle in Parc de la Ciutadella (Passeig de Picasso, 7).
- Subjectivities Under Debate: Ethical and Political Practices for the Present, featuring Ray Brassier, Eudald Espluga, Tatiana Llaguno, and the Ateneu Barcelonès at La Modelo (Calle de Entença, 155).
- New Vocabularies for Cities in the Global South, with Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Gautam Bhan, Teresa Caldeira, and Edgar Pieterse, at the Pati de les Dones.
- Performances featuring Valentín Roma and Valerio Rocco in Plaça Major in Nou Barris.
- Youth for Climate Justice: Local and Internationalist Struggles, with Erica Njuguna, Victor Uallas, and Sara Ribes at the Hivernacle in Parc de la Ciutadella (Passeig de Picasso, 7).
- “Me, Me, Me, and Me Should Add Up to ‘Us’: A Therapeutic Twist and Class Struggle,” with Jean-Philippe Kindler, Adrià Porta, and Marta Echaves at La Modelo (Calle de Entença, 155).
- The Revolution of the Imaginary with Felwine Sarr and Myriam Mallart at the Pati de les Dones.
- The Great Hunt with Juan Mayorga at the CCCB Theater (Calle de Montalegre, 5).
Saturday, October 17
- The Battle for Memory, featuring Julián Casanova, Xavier Domènech, and Sílvia Marimon at the Pati de les Dones.
- “Vendidas y fracasadas,” a podcast by Amiga date cuenta, featuring Begoña Gómez Urzaiz, Noelia Ramírez, and Juanpe Sánchez López at Parc de Les Glòries.
- Gaza: Articulating to Sustain Life, with Noor Abed, Yahya Albarrawi, and Muath Hamed, and a screening of *A Night We Held Between* by Noor Abed at La Sedeta (Calle de Sicília, 321).
- Theater in the Struggle for Democracy, featuring Juan Mayorga, Victoria Szpunberg, Israel Solà, and Ana Prieto Nadal at the Pati de les Dones.
- Training our minds to think utopically in order to change the present, with Tau Luna at La Sedeta (Calle de Sicília, 321).
- The Universal and Its Limits, with Omri Boehm and Jordi Graupera at the Pati de les Dones.
- “What Is Not Freedom?”, featuring Wendy Brown, Fina Birulés, and Begonya Saez Tajafuerce at Parc de Les Glòries.
- Ukraine: The Meaning of Writing, featuring Sofia Andrukhóvitx, Volodymyr Yermolenko, Tetyana Ogarkova, and Margaryta Yakovenko at the Pati de les Dones.
- Narratives, with Míriam Cano and Laura Camargo at La Sedeta (Calle de Sicília, 321).
- Words Are Needed: Narrative, Uncertainty, and Community, with Neige Sinno, Lola López Mondéjar, and Miquel Missé at Parc de Les Glòries.
- London: The Hidden City, with Patrick Radden Keefe and Judit Carrera at the Pati de les Dones.
- Barcelonians: A Self-Portrait and Four Monologues, featuring Maria Rovira, Shaun Debnath, Alba Segarra, and Judit Martín at Parc de Les Glòries.
- SVSTO concert at Parc de Les Glòries.
Sunday, October 18
- (Not) Being Like Everyone Else with Maryam Madjidi and Youssef el Maimouni at the Pati de les Dones.
- “Invisibilities” with Grigri at La Sedeta (Calle de Sicília, 321)…
- Language, Memory, and Diaspora with Xiaolu Guo, Xisi Sofia Ye Chen, and Carles Prado at the Pati de les Dones.
- “Night City” with Mariana Enriquez and Valerie Miles at the Pati de les Dones.
- Cities in dialogue with Leila Guerriero, Antònia Vicens, Marta Sanz, Pol Guasch, Maryam Madjidi, Xaime Martínez, Mar Garcia Puig, Neige Sinno, Meritxell Neddermann, and Adrià Serrano at the Pati de les Dones.
